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Comment by jdbeast00 | Hacker News Reader

i'm sorry but i just don't buy the 'chutes aren't worth it / wouldn't work' argument. i'm confident that in the next few decades we'll have better safety systems in planes, it will just take a few really smart engineers. people will still die in planes, sure, but in the cases where chutes or whatever will help, there will be huge benefits.

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There is a small aircraft manufacturer, Cirrus that puts a parachute recovery system right on the aircraft itself.

Notably, reviews have been mixed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballistic_Recovery_Systems

Cirrus, it should be noted has an below average crash rate compared to other aircraft in class. Clearly, the small total of 18 deployments compared to the crash rate leaves a lot of work to be done.

Strangely chutes on planes might be worth it, but maybe not like you think.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballistic_Recovery_Systems

This is an intriguing idea, has anybody heard of any research done for this regarding passenger airplanes?

Based on the article, I'm guessing large passenger jets are some time off. BRS is currently working on systems for very small business jets.

Nobody knows how to make a ballistic parachute that will handle a passenger jet, especially not a widebody A330.

Airplane doors CANNOT be opened in flight unless you depressurize the airplane first. Even then, it would probably be difficult. The only airliner (that I am aware of) that could have the rear stairs opened in flight was the 727, which was "fixed" after D.B. Cooper took that way out. (Odds are pretty good he didn't make it, either.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooper_vane

For this to be true everyone would have to wear one, and the plane would have to break open in mid-air. Obviously, structural integrity is an asset more often than a disadvantage. You won't be able to engineer this unless everyone sits in mini capsules and the plane like a ballistic missile with MIRV. The costs (in planes accidentally exploding over false positives and spewing out their encapsulated passengers) vastly outweigh the benefits.

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